Hooken Cliff

Hooken Cliff is the best location in Devon for finding fossils, in particular, echinoids, ammonites, fish and brachiopods, which are easy to find – you just never know what you may find. They can be found in the White Chalk Subgroup (Seaton Formation) and the Grey Chalk Subgroup and in the Upper Greensand.

DIRECTIONS

♦ Hooken Cliff is also an important area for wildlife. It is a huge landslip, which is rich in fauna and flora. You can access this either by walking through the old landslide or from Branscombe. Branscombe is the best point of access. Drive down to the mouth of the small mill stream, where you will find a large car park.
♦ From here, walk east until you reach the cliffs at the edge of the landslide. You can also walk from Beer and down through the landslide. This has spectacular views, but is also a long walk and can be challenge for some.
♦ Ref: 50.68683°N, 3.11898°W

PROFILE INFO

FIND FREQUENCY: ♦♦♦♦♦ – The rocks at Hooken are very rich in fossils and you will be almost certain to come home with lots of finds. It is the most productive fossil location in Devon.CHILDREN: ♦♦♦ – This site is suitable for families with older children, but children MUST keep away from the cliff edge. In addition, the walk may be too far for some younger children.ACCESS: ♦♦♦ – The location is quite a walk, as it sits between Beer and Branscombe. If you are planning to visit this location by means of the landslide walk from Beer, then access would be rated as very poor – it is a long walk from the car park in this village.TYPE: – Most fossils are found in the fallen blocks, which can be seen on the foreshore or at the bottom of the cliffs. Fossils such as echinoids can also be found loose in the scree slopes. Hooken is also an important site for the fauna and flora living and growing behind the old landslide, so you should respect this aspect of the site. The cliffs on the beach and the rocks on the foreshore are full of fossils and there are no restrictions on collecting here.

FOSSIL HUNTING

It is easy to find fossils at Hooken Cliff. The old landslide is constantly being eroded by the rain, wind and sea, and boulders of Chalk and Upper Greensand frequently fall onto the beach.

If you search through the boulders on the foreshore, these are usually full of fossils. The best blocks are those from the Grey Chalk Subgroup (previously Middle Chalk), with the fossils in this being superbly preserved and fairly easy to get out. The best blocks are those that have been sitting around for a while, as the harder fossils weather out of the softer chalk, making them easy to spot.

Keep an eye open for loose echinoids along the foreshore, which have been washed out of the chalk. However, they can be hard to spot. In addition, the Upper Greensand here is rich in fossil brachiopods, oysters and bivalves. Ammonites can also be found in this. In addition, other fossils such as sharks’ teeth, corals and sponges can be found here – you just never know what you might find.

GEOLOGY

The White Chalk Subgroup of the Seaton Chalk Formation (previously Middle Chalk) is of Cretaceous age of around 90 Mya) and makes up the uppermost beds at Hooken Cliff. It consists of the Terebratulina lata and the Inoceramus labiatus (Orbirhynchia cuvieri) Zones.

This chalk is the most fossiliferous of the rocks here, but it is only accessible from fallen blocks.

Most of the cliff at Hooken to Beer comprises of the Beer Limestone Formation of the Hooken Nodular Limestone Bed. This is from the Grey Chalk Subgroup (previously known as Lower Chalk. This is Upper Cretaceous in age from the Cenomanian stage, of 96 Mya.
In the lowest part of the cliff, Upper Greensand (Lower Cretaceous, Albian ~105 Mya) is present. This rock can also be seen on the foreshore during scouring conditions.

SAFETY

Common sense when collecting at all locations should always be used and knowledge of tide times is essential. The main danger at Hooken Cliff is from falling rocks. The cliffs are extremely tall and cliff falls are quite common. You should keep away from the base of the cliff at all times and wear a hard hat.

EQUIPMENT

Some of the rocks can be quite soft and a pick or knife is ideal for removing fossils from these. There is also harder chalk and greensand, for which a hammer is appropriate. A chisel is essential for getting any important finds out and safety goggles are a must.

ACCESS RIGHTS

This site is an SSSI. This means you can visit the site, but hammering the bedrock is not permitted. For full information about the reasons for the status of the site and restrictions please download the PDF from Natural England – SSSI Information – Hooken Cliff

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[…] The coast path descends sharply to Hooken Undercliff, where a very significant cliff fall in 1790, created the undercliff, now a wooded area rich in wildlife. This area is also known for its fossils. […]

I visited Hooken cliffs a few days ago – I accessed the beach via Branscombe Bay car park and walked eastwards along the shingle beach till I had access to the cliffs and boulders on the beach. The walk wasn’t too far but it felt tough going as walking on pebbles is seriously hard work! Once the landslipped material gave way to the cliffs I really didn’t feel comfortable getting close to the cliff face as they looked unstable and very tall. Fallen boulders were few and far between and those that were, looked either very old or extremely worn (depending on wave action). I kept walking hoping perhaps I could reach Beer to the East around the headland but there was a large rockfall containing many gigantic boulders blocking the way. I could’ve scrabbled over this but the gaps between the boulders looked dangerous and I didn’t fancy risking my life to be honest. Most of the rocks at this particular rockfall were of the Beer Head Limestone Formation which contained numerous fossils and some stunning corals but extracting these proved almost impossible (so I gave up after a couple of attempts). Fallen blocks of the Seaton Chalk formation were significantly less common and those I found did not contain very many fossils. All in all I found this location poor for fossil collecting – I came away with a small Camerogalerus minimus echinoid fossil from the Seaton Chalk and nice Brachiopod from the Limestone but that was it.
I’d really recommend instead of this location, trying the headland between Beer and Seaton which has very similar geology but is far far far more productive (in my limited experience). I was visiting for a few days and I found lots of small echinoid fossils from the coast east of Beer along with plenty of brachiopods and some nice Inoceramid oyster fossils. All of these were found on weathered blocks in my the same way that I’d imagine those at Hooken normally are – as a result they require little preparation as the weathering has done most of that for us!
In my experience Hooken cliffs is a poor location to find fossils; bundled with a difficult accessibility and dangerous cliffs I’m really surprised by the five star rating it’s been given but then the coastline’s always changing and perhaps I visited at a poor time of the year?